


What I (Didn't Expect to) Like About You

by NoisyNoiverns



Category: Mass Effect (Comics), Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Reapers, Children, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Married Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoisyNoiverns/pseuds/NoisyNoiverns
Summary: Abrudas comes home after an unpleasant day on base to something much more peaceful.





	What I (Didn't Expect to) Like About You

**Author's Note:**

> valis = abrudas, as per usual
> 
> also ftr i hc abrudas is promoted to captain after the events of the comics, come fight me in person mac walters

Valis heaved a sigh as the apartment door unlocked and slid open. Her bad leg throbbed with a dull ache, and she could barely keep her head up. She was more than ready to be home.

Her bag dropped to the entryway floor with a clatter, but she didn’t bother to neaten it, simply staggering further inside. “I’m home,” she croaked. Her throat was sore and rough after a day of bellowing at morons, so her voice didn’t carry far.

But it went far enough. “Mama!”

Her mandibles lifted weakly as a dark gray shape came skidding out of the doorway leading to the kitchen, overshot, and disappeared behind the couch. “Sivvi, what did we say about running indoors?”

Little talons appeared over the edge of the couch, then her son’s head, peering over with those adorably wide eyes. “Sorry,” he chirped, stubby mandibles quirked up in a way that clearly stated he wasn’t at all. “Hi, Mama.”

She purred in spite of herself and opened her arms, an invitation he happily took. He disappeared again, only to reappear half a second later, skittering around the couch and headlong into her legs. With a chuckle, she dropped down to one knee to hug him, lowering her head so he could nuzzle all over. “Hi, Mama,” he repeated, nipping at her mandibles and cuddling up close. “Missed you.”

“Oh, I missed you, too, sweetie,” she cooed, hugging him against the side of her cowl. “Where’s your dad?”

“In the kitchen,” came the answer, beyond the doorway her hyperactive nestling had rocketed out of.

Desivius squeaked and wriggled out of her grasp, tugging on her hand. Mandibles lifting, she let him pull her to the kitchen, his little four-year-old hands so small it took both of them to close around only one of hers.

As promised, inside the kitchen stood her husband in all his sweatpants-clad glory, looking more like a career househusband than a famed general. Their daughters were with him, eight-year-old Taniria standing on a stool to reach the stovetop and two-year-old Galenia dozing at his hip. He wasn’t looking her way when she walked in, instead guiding Taniria’s hand as she pushed something around in a pan with a spatula. “Okay, now we’re just going to stir that for a few minutes until the sauce thickens up, alright? Just keep moving everything around so it doesn’t burn. That’s it…”

Valis paused a few steps in, entranced. He was _teaching their daughter to cook_. Spirits, be kind to her heart. And with the baby on his hip, too, bless him.

Not realizing she’d stopped, Desivius kept walking, only to be pulled up short when her arm wouldn’t raise any more. He stutter-stepped, toe-claws clicking as the foot he’d already set forward dragged back, then turned to look up at her and give a confused little chirp. “Mama?”

At the stove, Desolas finally looked up, and all the day’s tension simply melted away when his mandibles lifted at the sight of her. “Hey, babe,” he said, flicking one mandible. “One sec.”

He turned back to Taniria and nudged the top of her head. “Think you’ve got this, kiddo?”

“Uh-huh.” Taniria barely even looked up, focusing hard on stirring the way her father had showed her.

“Great. Just stir that… I think three minutes should do it, then call me back and I’ll show you what to do next.” He gave her a little kiss, then stepped back, turning to face Valis again and picking up Galenia to nestle her against his cowl. He crossed the kitchen surprisingly gracefully – elegance wasn’t exactly one of his strong points, he was really more of a “walk like you have a _purpose”_ kind of man, but carrying a toddler meant adjustments had to be made. Their youngest rarely accepted being jostled, so Desolas walked as if carrying the most delicate, precious thing known to the galaxy.

Which, really, she was. At least to _them._

By now, Desivius had decided to retreat back to her side, beaking absently on one of his talons while the other hand wrapped around her leg. As Desolas got closer, she carefully guided him out of the way, eager to avoid any screaming over toes that might be accidentally trod on. “Hey, babe,” she purred, raising an arm to grasp at his shirt and tug him closer to her all the faster. “How’d today go?”

His mandibles lifted, and he wrapped one arm around her waist while the other rubbed their son’s head affectionately. “Nothing to report, Captain,” he mused, leaning in to nuzzle their faces together. “Got groceries, went to the park, your basic stay-at-home dad fare.”

She managed a small chuckle, closing her eyes and pressing back against him slightly. “I love how you call yourself that even when you’re not one.”

He purred. “Well, y’know. ‘General who stays home with his kids most days of the month because he doesn’t have the kind of workload that justifies going all the way to base every day’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.” He pulled back, and she opened her eyes to see him appraising her carefully. “You look tired. Long day?”

She blinked slowly, then let out a long, slow sigh, mandibles falling. “You wouldn’t _believe.”_

“Sure I would. I was a captain once, too, y’know.” He winked, then adjusted his grip on Galenia and added, “Why don’t you go sit down, and I’ll make you some tea, and you can tell me all about it.”

A pause, then her mandibles slowly rose back up. “That sounds perfect.”

“Good. Here, do you want to hold your baby?” He bounced Galenia a little for emphasis, prompting her to giggle and squeak, lifting one arm towards Valis while the other stayed clamped on Desolas’s cowl.

She purred and obligingly reached up to grasp her daughter around her tiny torso. “I would _love_ to hold my baby.”

Galenia, for her part, chirped and purred and trembled wobbly, unpracticed subvocals as she lifted her out of Desolas’s arms and carried her over to the kitchen table, Desivius hopping along behind. While Desolas drifted off to find the kettle, she pulled out a chair and sat down, putting her head down so Galenia could nuzzle her and put her hands all over her face, as turians still in the cowl were wont to do. “Hi, sweetie,” she cooed. “Did you miss me?”

Galenia chirred, and two little hands on Valis’s knee informed her of another young one eager for the same attention. With a chuckle, she shifted in her seat and reached down to help Desivius clamber into her lap, humming, “Patience, little one. Mama has two hands, there’s plenty of love to go around.”

Desivius squeaked as he got settled, and she rumbled a good-natured subvocal, leaning back in her seat so both her young ones could be comfortable. “Did you have a good day today, Sivvi?”

“Uh-huh.” He immediately put his talon in his mouth again. Spirits, that was going to be a hard habit to break him of. He was going to leave gouges in his claw bed. “We went to the liberry and got new books.”

“You did?” She closed one eye as Galenia started trying to climb up her cowl and head. “Are they good books?”

“I dunno. Daddy hasn’t read them yet.”

“Mm. Bedtime books, then. I see.” She glanced past Desivius to watch Desolas putter around with the tea. “Daddy said you went to the park?”

“Uh-huh. Lenni wanted to.”

“Slide,” Galenia confirmed seriously.

The younger two’s retelling was interrupted by Taniria at the stove. “Daddy, it’s been three minutes, what do I do?” she trilled, subvocals high and distressed.

Desolas glanced over, then set the tea aside and sidestepped over. “Okay, so what we do now is take it off heat…”

A lump rose in Valis’s throat watching him patiently explain the ins and outs of seasoning food. To think she hadn’t been sure he’d be a good father! Before Shanxi, before… before _the accident,_ he’d been so headstrong, so hot-tempered. He was a good leader, back then, a man any military would be proud to have on hand, but he wasn’t exactly parent material. But then she’d gotten injured, and he’d run off at first, but then he’d _come back._ He put everything on hold, just to comfort her when she was upset and help her learn to walk with a bad leg and stay with her while she was prepped for more surgeries. And he’d promised her he’d stay that way, he’d be more patient, he’d use his head more, he’d stop and listen instead of charging headlong into things, he’d be _better._

And he had, and when Taniria was born, she’d never been happier to be proven wrong.

A tiny talon clicked into the gap between her nasal plates, and the moment was lost as she reared back, snorting and shaking her head profusely. Galenia, startled, shrieked and jumped backwards, almost falling but catching herself on Valis’s cowl at the last second. Possibly also startled but equally possibly just because everyone else was doing it, Desivius also let out a series of startled, yelping barks, and had to grab Valis’s cowl to steady himself.

Before Valis had a chance to try to settle the nestlings in her lap, Desolas jolted up at the commotion, then hurried over. “Okay, okay, easy,” he said, picking up Galenia and cradling her against her cowl. “Hey, it’s alright, shh.” He nuzzled her, then went to grab Desivius. “Okay, let’s leave Mom alone for now, okay? Let’s go, come on.” He carried the two over to the other side of the table, soothing, “You two can sit over here, okay? Siv, I’ll go get your coloring book, and Lenni, do you want yours, too? Yeah? Okay, just settle down…”

Valis rubbed at her nasal plates, eyes squinted against the pain. At least Galenia’s talons were still short and stubby. An adult turian, or even just a fledgling like Taniria, had points on their talons that could have really done some damage to the delicate membranes hiding underneath. But Lenni was just a baby, so her little dull stumps only wedged the plates apart in a painful way.

As the hurt faded, she watched Desolas soothe the nestlings, nuzzling and kissing wherever necessary before sliding over to the cupboard where they stored emergency child-distracting supplies for the many, many times when they needed the kids to leave them alone for ten minutes so they could cook dinner. Galenia squeaked something about wanting her finger paints, and while Desolas calmly explained that she could have them _after_ dinner so she wouldn’t get messy before, Valis leaned over the table and rested her chin in her hand, watching the little scene play out with her mandibles raised ever-so-slightly. He was so _good_ with them.

Spirits, she loved this man.

Once crayons and coloring books had been distributed, to the kids’ noisy delight, Desolas strode back over to the counter, checked on Valis’s tea, and _finally_ came back over to her with the mug in his hands. “Here you go,” he said, subvocals thrumming _exhausted-relieved-amused._ “After much trials and tribulation, I give you… _tea.”_ He presented the mug with a flourish and a dramatic bow.

She couldn’t help herself. She laughed, accepting the mug with a grin. “The mighty warrior brings his lady a prize from a far-off land,” she joked, wrapping her hands gratefully around it and closing her eyes as the heat soaked into her weary joints. She inhaled deep, letting the scent fill her entire being, then sighed slowly and reopened her eyes. “Thanks, Des. You’re the best.”

He gave another, more reserved and serious little bow, then took a step closer so he could kiss the top of her head. “Let me make sure Tanni’s doing alright, then I’ll come back, and you can tell me about your day,” he promised.

She purred and nodded, and he swept off as she took a long, deep sip of her tea. The hot liquid felt all but magic as it fell down her throat, reaching out into every cell of her body and melting away all the last remaining bits of stress she hadn’t realized she still had. The ever-present ache in her leg faded away, the tension in her shoulders lifted, the soreness in her feet seemed a little more tolerable. Add “makes a damn good cup of tea” to Desolas’s list of redeeming qualities, she mused with a wry tilt to her mandibles.

True to his word, Desolas was back in barely a minute, after explaining to Taniria the next steps and giving her a quick, reassuring nuzzle on the top of her head. Then he was pulling out the chair next to Valis, easing himself down, crossing his legs, and resting his chin his hand with his elbow propped up on the table while he looked at her with rapt attention. “So,” he said, “what’s up?”

And, warmth from her tea and from the peace of her home loosening her tongue, she told him. Difficult recruits and mountains of paperwork and NCOs on power trips and all the little things that just kept adding up into one big, unhappy pile of awful. Desolas hung on her every word, nodding along and “mhm”-ing and tutting at all the right places. He was, really, a great listener. In all the time she’d known him, she’d never felt like he was just humoring her when he listened to her complain, and tonight was no different. By the time she was done, she felt like it had never really bothered her at all, and it had all simply been waiting for her to tell Desolas about it, like even the universe simply wanted his attention.

With all the interest and love in his eyes, she could believe it.

Her venting was pleasantly bookended by Taniria announcing that dinner was ready, young subvocals now singing with pride at her accomplishment. And as Desolas got up to get plates, reminding Desivius that he had to eat at least six bites of whatever was put in front of him and asking Valis if she wanted to feed Galenia or if he should do it, everything she’d been ruminating on circled around in her head. Helping Taniria make dinner and calming the nestlings when they were startled and managing the older two in spite of the youngest glued to his hip and still finding the time and energy and _love_ to make her tea and listen patiently as she regaled him with her bad day – he’d come a long way from the impulsive, wild colonel she’d been thrown in with many years ago. He’d come through on his promise and then some. He was better than she could have ever _dreamed_ he’d be.

So, setting her tea down at her spot, she got to her feet and lumbered over to the stove, sidling up beside Desolas and nudging him gently. “Hey, hotshot,” she murmured, grabbing a plate off the stack Taniria had gotten down, “you know what I just remembered?”

Desolas twitched a mandible, glancing over with a curious light in his eyes, and gave a questioning grunt as he spooned… she didn’t know what it was, something with meat and mushrooms and cheese and even more meat, onto his plate. Something amateur-ish for Taniria to start learning on.

She smiled and leaned against him slightly, resting her head on his shoulder. “How much I love you.”

The rumble he gave in response shook her entire chest, and her mandibles lifted even more as her subvocals whispered a promise back to him, one of love and the future and what it would hold for them, both in the many, many years to come she wanted to spend growing old with him at her side, and in the precious sliver of time they’d have to themselves after the kids went to bed that night.


End file.
